Seduced by the dark side… again!

It seems every time I try to start a loyalist Space Marine army, I end up getting sucked back into the Warp after I finish the first squad. With the new models for Death Guard in the house, I couldn’t help myself. So the Dark Angels are back on the shelf. Just for the moment, I hope.

Right now, I’m painting the Foetid Bloat-drone and the squad of Plague Marines. Adding those units to my current Death Guard army will put it in the neighborhood of 2000 points. That’s what I want to have ready for the upcoming world-wide campaign. With a little bit of luck, I’ll be finished painting these models by the campaign’s start date.

The first Death Guard model I started was one of the bolter-carrying Plague Marines. I was considering using the the old dip method, but given how messy the technique is and how well the new Citadel shades work, I figured I’d go with the latter. However, I did start with white primer, which is what I’ve used in the past on my Death Guard. My paint scheme is an old one, but that’s kind of the point, right? I mean, the Death Guard are one of the original Space Marine legions, so they’ve been around a long time. As such, my scheme is inspired by some of the suggestions from 3rd edition.

Remember this box?

$30 for a box of Death Guard? Sold!

Back in the halcyon days of 2004 when $30 USD was a premium price for a unit of power armor models. On the back of the box, GW suggested a few paints you might use for the models. Here’s what that looked like:

All those paints are gone now. But if you do a search for “Citadel paint conversion chart,” you can find alternative paints, many of which are very close to the original Citadel colors. This box was not the only place I drew inspiration for my Death Guard paint scheme from back in the day. Here’s the paint scheme that was suggested in the legendary Chaos Space Marines 3.5 ed. codex:

Some of the colors are the same. Funny enough, if you mix equal parts Snot Green and Bronzed Flesh (or their Vallejo equivalents), you get Goblin Green or a color very close to it. That said, my scheme actually used Camo Green for the armor plates, Chainmail for the trim, Beaten Copper for the bolter casing, and Bleached Bone for the bone details. For the new models, I’m using several Vallejo Game Colors as stand-ins for the old Citadel paints. Those include: Camouflage Green, Hammered Copper, and Squid Pink. I’m also using Plate Mail Metal from The Army Painter range. Of the new Citadel paints, I’m using Screamer Pink and Pink Horror on the tattered robes, and Leadbelcher and Balthasar Gold on some details. On the Bloat-drone in particular, I’m also using Zandri Dust and Rakarth Flesh. And those are just the base coat paints.

I have done a heavy wash of Agrax Earthshade on the Plague Marine, and it’s gotten close to the look I achieved back in the day with the dip method. It’s a little darker, but I’ll touch up some areas. So, I think that means I’ll be able to replicate the old paint scheme pretty well on the new miniatures. I’ve got some ideas for what paints I’ll use for highlights, and I’ll list those paints in another update.

And speaking of the new miniatures, one of my old Death Guard units will not be making an appearance anymore. Part of the reason is they aren’t a unit that is in the Death Guard army list any longer. But also, because the old models I have for this unit are dwarfed by the new Plague Marine models. Of course, I’m talking about the old metal Chaos Terminators.

I had these Chaos Terminators as one of my Death Guard units back in 4th edition. This was also one of the first units I ever tried to use Green Stuff on. I modeled up a bunch of large pustules with Nurgle’s mark in them. I also modeled bloated guts, some of which had burst open on these Chaos Terminators. I really wanted them to have a look similar to the Plague Marines. I put them on 40 mm bases right after the new (at the time) loyalist Terminators came out on 40 mm bases. So these guys go way back.

Now, they have always been sort of out of proportion to the other models in the range. They were around the same height as the older Plague Marine models. Or loyalist Space Marine models. Even though the Chaos Terminators were technically supposed to be larger than normal power armor models, I could always abide the difference. But now, the difference is just too much.

The new Plague Marines stand almost a head taller than the old metal Chaos Terminators. To me, that difference is just too jarring on the table top. And I can imagine they’d look puny next to Primaris Marine models.

As such, I’ll likely end up selling these guys to make room for new models. I’d rather someone have them and use them instead of them collecting dust on my shelf. It’ll be hard to part with them I’m sure.